


if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again

by moonsongthemarauder



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Denial of Feelings, Exes, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation, Inspired by Music, One Shot, Past Relationship(s), Romance, Romantic Comedy, Unresolved Romantic Tension, some christmas drama for scorose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsongthemarauder/pseuds/moonsongthemarauder
Summary: “Rose, you are 24 years old,” Mum said. “I think that it is time you got over being burned by your first love and move on.”At her words, I felt my face flush. “I did not love him. And I was not burned by him and even if I was, I would be able to get over it as I am a mature adult.”Mum gave me a disbelieving look. “Right, Rose. That’s why you are cornering me in the kitchen when I have cooking to do being upset with me for inviting a man who had no one else to spend Christmas with to spend it with us. And why you claim he’s your enemy when you haven’t spoken to him in years.”





	if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again

“Mum,” I said, cornering my mother in kitchen. “What is he doing  here?”

“Whatever do you mean Rose?”

“You know what I mean,” I said. I turned around, pointing at the git that had just walked into our family Christmas, in a blue Weasley sweater with the letter ‘S’ on it. “What is he, the devil, doing here at our family Christmas?”

“Oh Rose,” Mum said, sighing. “You know he and Albus are close. And he is working in my department now. He mentioned that he had no one to spend Christmas with when I asked him—“

“So you invited him?!” I asked, my voice full of betrayal. “You invited my sworn enemy to my family Christmas celebration? What happened to people only being invited if they were engaged to a family member?”

“Oh Rosie, that has never been a rule,” Mum said. I gapped at her.

“It was a rule when I wanted to bring Logan last year,” I exclaimed. Although my boyfriend, Logan Maclaggen, and I had since broken up, we had been serious enough that I wanted to have him come to Christmas, thinking that maybe, if he came, he would have been more open to the idea of proposing.

“Honey, your father only said that was a rule because he didn’t like Logan,” Mum said. “I only went along with it because it was clear you and him were going to break up soon.”

“It wasn’t clear to me!” I said. I heard a laugh from where the git stood, turning to glare at him. “Why does he have a Weasley sweater anyway? He isn’t a part of this family.”

“When Nana found out that he was spending Christmas with us, she knitted him one,” Mum said. “I thought it was rather sweet of her.”

“Yet she never knitted one for Michael Thomas when we were dating,” I said bitterly.

Mum sighed. “Rose, have you noticed all the people your comparing his treatment to were ex-boyfriends who didn’t treat you well?”

“They treated me well!” I said, feeling defensive.

Mum gave me a look, knowing just as well as I did that Michael cheated on me and Logan made me think he was going to propose while slowly growing more detached and hard to talk to until I eventually broke up with him, once I realized he was never planning on proposing.

“Rose, you are 24 years old,” Mum said. “I think that it is time you got over being burned by your first love and move on.”

At her words, I felt my face flush. “I did not love him. And I was not burned by him and even if I was, I would be able to get over it as I am a mature adult.”

Mum gave me a disbelieving look. “Right, Rose. That’s why you are cornering me in the kitchen when I have cooking to do being upset with me for inviting a man who had no one else to spend Christmas with to spend it with us. And why you claim he’s your rival when you haven’t spoken to him in years.”

“I’ve spoken to him the past year,” I said. I had seen him since we left Hogwarts, since his close friendship with Al meant he was always at family events, but I always tried to avoid him. The one place I couldn’t avoid him was Mum’s office. “Ever since he started working in your office I have been forced to interact with him on the few occasions where I come to see you.”

“Rose, I don’t want to hear any more about it,” Mum said. “He is treated the way he is by our family because everyone likes him. He is a good man who is hardworking and has been an excellent friend to Albus. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go greet him, since I was the one who invited him.”

“But-“ I said, as she walked away, very clearly ignoring me and anything else I might have to say.

I watched her go over to him, go over to my rival, and give him the signature Hermione Granger-Weasley smile, giving him a hug. She called my dad over then and Dad shook his hand, seeming pleased that he was there, despite all of his past statements about him.

I turned and walked towards the living room, the tight stomach feeling I always got around him coming back despite the fact that I wasn’t even that close to him. I walked over to where the bar was set up, pouring myself a firewhisky and downing it in one shot, trying to loosen up the knot in my stomach.

“Woah, you okay there Rosie?” a voice came from my side said.

I turned and saw my older cousin James, watching me with a concerned and slightly amused look on his face.

“I’m fine,” I said, turning to him. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you just drank firewhisky in one shot,” James said. “The only other times I’ve seen you do that is when you’re going through a break up and are trying to drown out any emotions you may have.”

“Ha. Ha.” I said, though my voice was lacking joy. I heard Al yell, excited his best friend was here, and his best friend yell excitedly back. My stomach tightened again and I suddenly felt the need for more firewhisky.

I must have shown my displeasure on my face because James began to smirk at me.

“Oh, I know why you’re drinking,” James teased.

“Why?”

“Because Scorpius Malfoy is here,” James said. At Scorpius’s name, my heart skipped a beat and I wanted to smack myself. “And you lurrrrve him.”

“I do not,” I said, frowning at James.

“Rosie, you’ve been head over heels for that bloke since you met him on the Hogwarts Express when you were 11,” James said.

“No I haven’t,” I said.

“That’s bull and the whole family knows it,” James sniggered.

“Need I remind you of the boyfriends I’ve had since I was 11?” I asked, even though it was really just the two. “I would have married Logan if he had proposed. Doesn’t sound like someone who is head over heels for another guy.”

“Maclaggen was never going to propose,” James said. “Anyone with a pulse can tell he was afraid of commitment.”

“Well, I didn’t,” I muttered.

“Yes you did Rose,” James said. “You were just buying time until Malfoy decided he was interested in you again.”

“Wow, you make me sound like such a self-sufficient woman James,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I loved Logan, just like I loved Michael.”

James shrugged. “Yeah, but not the way that you love Malfoy.”

I shook my head. “I never loved Scorpius.”

“Right,” James said. “That’s why you haven’t been able to get over him even though you dated him eight years ago.”

“Will people please stop saying that?” I exclaimed. I crossed my arms, feeling very tense that twice in less than ten minutes I have been accused of not being over Scorpius Malfoy. “We dated for all of two months when we were 16. Hardly an epic love story.”

“The two months, no, not an epic love story,” James said. I felt some tension leave me at his agreement. “But the fact that it’s been eight years and you both still love each other? That’s what makes it epic.”

I shook my head, refusing to look at James. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Sure it is Rose,” James said. “I’m just saying, you’re upset that he’s here and all he’s done since he got here is sneak looks at you. Not exactly sounding like two people who are over each other.”

James clapped my shoulder before walking away.

As James’s words sunk in, I immediately looked up, my eyes finding Scorpius in seconds, and discovered that he was already looking at me. His eyes got wide and his cheeks tinted pink, clearly embarrassed, as if he knew he shouldn’t have been looking at me.

I felt my face start to get hot as I looked at him, before breaking eye contact and walking in the outside where Hugo and Fred were playing Quidditch, suddenly needing some air and feeling hot in the crowded room.

* * *

 

“My dear, you should have seen it!” Grandpa said. “It was flying so high and I stood there, just in shock that muggles were able to do that without magic! They were able to make this building fly through the air, all on their own. I was fifteen at the time, but I knew, I knew that I wanted that to be my biggest life’s purpose to find out how they get those buildings into the sky.”

I smiled at my grandpa, who was looking up at the night sky with such delight. Hugo flew overhead of us, waving down at my grandfather who waved up to him excitedly. Grandpa and I sat in chairs outside, looking up at the stars, something we always did together.

“I bet that was something to see,” I said. “Muggles can do some incredible things without magic.”

“Yes they can!” Grandpa said. “The things they can do!” Grandpa gave one last look up at the sky, before turning to me, putting his hand over mine. “But enough about the dreams of an old man. How are you, my Rosie?”

I gave him a small smile. “I’m alright.”

“I noticed that we have an extra person here tonight,” Grandpa said. “A blond extra person. I heard a rumor that he was here for you.”

I let out a laugh. “No, no he’s not. You misunderstood Grandpa. We dated, at Hogwarts for two months but nothing since. My mum invited him.”

“Oh, shame,” Grandpa said. “Spoke with him earlier. Seemed like a lovely bloke. Smart as a whip, just like you.”

I nodded, remembering Scorpius’s intelligence from Hogwarts. We had had a competition for grades since our first year, which was part of the reason why I became so attracted to him.

“Well he works with my mum,” I said. “So he must be smart, Mum only ever hires the best.” I bit my lip, nervous about what I was about to say. “Scorpius was always really smart though. I always thought he could do anything.”

Grandpa gave me a knowing smile. “You sound very fond of him.”

“No,” I said immediately. “I mean, I used to be. But not anymore.”

There was a commotion behind us and we turned and saw Al and James pushing Scorpius out the door to come outside, something Scorpius didn’t seem to appreciate by his glare.

“Oh those boys,” Grandpa said. “Probably trying to push him to play Quidditch. Merlin knows how James and Albus found wives when they are still such children.”

I smiled. “Yes, I strongly agree with that.”

“Arthur?” Nana called from the door. “Arthur can you come in here please? The radio isn’t working and you were always better at tinkering magic than I was.”

“Well, better go take care of that,” Grandpa said. He patted my knee. “And Rose? You may find that fondness for a person never really goes away.” He glanced at my Nana, waiting by the door. “Trust me.”

He got up and walked towards my Nana, giving her a kiss on the cheek. I smiled slightly before looking back up at the stars.

My Grandpa and Nana were always my role models for love. They had been together since they were at Hogwarts, before eloping and starting a life together. They had been happily together for well over fifty years, still being grossly cute by holding hands and kissing each other on the cheek to this day.

I had always wanted that. I remember being five years old, knowing that they love was what I wanted when I grew up. When I went to Hogwarts, I was so excited not only to learn everything I could but also to potentially meet the person I was going to grow old with.

And I thought I had. I met Scorpius on the train my first year and immediately fell for him. He had helped me with my trunk when Al was too busy trying to handle his own and I immediately liked him. That feeling only got deeper each time we hung out, which ended up being constantly since we were both sorted into Gryffindor.

Then, halfway through sixth year, he asked me to be his girlfriend and I thought everything was just going to fall into place. I was so happy, and my feelings got deeper and deeper for him.

Until one day he decided he had enough.

“Al, James, stop!”

I turned behind me, wondering why Scorpius’s voice sounded so close, before suddenly my chair was knocked over and I fell out, a body and a chair awkwardly on top of me.

“Ow,” I said, wincing at the pain I felt in my wrist as the chair landed on it.

“Shit,” I hears Scorpius whisper. I immediately opened my eyes to find myself staring into Scorpius’s blue ones. My breath faltered for a second, realizing that I hadn’t been this close to Scorpius in eight years. My heart went into overdrive and, despite myself, I couldn’t help but drop my gaze to his lips before I was able to compose myself.

“Get off me Malfoy!” I said, trying to push him with my free hand only for it to not be of use.

“Sorry,” Scorpius said, immediately shaking his head as if breaking out of a trance. He immediately got up off of me, moving the chair, before offering a hand out to help me up.

I eyed it, unsure of whether to take it or not.

“You can take my hand Rose,” Scorpius said, sighing. “I promise to just let you up and immediately let go.”

Hesitantly, I gave him my hand, allowing him to pull me up. True to his word, as soon as I was stable on two feet he immediately let go.

“Sorry about that,” Scorpius said, looking down at me. “Al and James pushed me out here and then continued to push me until eventually I fell on top of you.” He looked behind him. “And it appears everyone left. So I guess they were lying about wanting to show me something.”

I sighed. “You’ve been around this family enough; you should know there is always some sort of shenanigan afoot.”

Scorpius smiled at me and I found myself smiling back, before catching myself and putting on a neutral expression. Scorpius’s eyes went up to my hair and his whole face lit up.

“Your hair is red again,” Scorpius said, almost more to himself than to me.

“Yeah?” I said, confused.

Scorpius immediately blushed, almost as if he was embarrassed that he got caught getting excited about my hair color.

“You’ve had it blonde or brown the past few years,” Scorpius said lightly. “This is the first time I’ve seen it red since Hogwarts.”

His gaze was intense on me, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious.

“Yeah,” I said, touching my hair lightly. “The dye was bad for my hair so I spent this year trying to get my natural color back.”

Scorpius smiled. “I always liked it red best.”

I felt my face turn pink and also felt annoyance come up within me.

I knew that he liked red best.

That was why I dyed my hair.

“Well if only that would have made you stick around longer than two months,” I said. I immediately felt embarrassed after I said it, my mouth speaking before my brain had processed my words.

Scorpius face immediately fell and I could tell I had hit a nerve.

“Rose-“

“Scorpius, Rose?”

We both turned to the door, where Aunt Ginny stood.

“It’s time for dinner,” she said. “Come on inside.”

I immediately booked it towards the door, not bother to look back to see if Scorpius was coming before leaving the door open. I walked into the dining room, determined to find a seat as far away from Scorpius as possible, hoping that if I got far away from him, all of these newly brought up feelings would go far away as well. I spotted a seat next to my Uncle Harry and made a beeline for it, only to have my Nana stop me.

“Rose, dear, we’re doing assigned seats this year,” Nana said.

“What?” I asked.

Ginny placed a hand on my arm, gently moving past me and taking the seat that I had been heading for. I felt another presence behind me and knew, based on the fact that we were the only two not sitting down, that it was Scorpius.

“Yes, we thought it might be fun to do assigned seats,” Nana said. She seemed taken aback by my face, which must have shown that I thought that was anything but fun. She pointed towards the opposite end of the table. “You and Scorpius are sitting in those two seats there.”

The snickers from my cousins told me that it was not a coincidence that I was sitting next to Scorpius.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my composure, although all I wanted to do was run out of the house screaming.

Since Scorpius was closer to the seats, I followed him to where we were assigned. He pulled my chair out for me and I gave him a glare before sitting in it and pulling my chair in myself. Scorpius sat down next to me and at the packed table he felt far to close; I was able to smell his cologne and hated that I liked the smell of it.

I tried to scoot closer to Lily, but it did no good. Scorpius was glaring at Al and James who sat across from us, who both were looking far too pleased with themselves for a normal holiday.

As soon as everyone started grabbing food and talking, Lily leaned in close to me.

“Are you okay, Rose?”

“I’m fine,” I whispered. “Your brothers are just annoying for making me sit next to Scorpius.”

Lily gave me a frown. “They didn’t make you sit next to Scorpius. You two were always sitting next to each other. Nana set the table yesterday.”

I felt my insides flutter, feeling somewhat relieved that this was not the act of my prankster cousins who appeared to love making me and one of their best friends uncomfortable, but probably an act that had no other intent than simply sitting next to each other.

But then Nana glanced down at me and gave me a smile and there was something behind it that I wasn’t able to name that made me think her choice of seating was not so innocent.

I felt a tap on my shoulder from Scorpius and turned to face him.

“Do you want some green beans?” he asked.

I nodded and was about to move my hands and take the plate from him when he put some on my plate himself. Despite myself, and all the arguments I almost threw at him that I was able to plate my own food, I found myself blushing at the fact that he did something for me.

“Oi, Scorp, I want green beans too,” Lily said. Scorpius then reached across me and put a scoop of green beans on her plate, before passing the bowl to Lily to pass down to Roxanne. Seeing him do that for Lily, I immediately deflated.

The disappointment of him not doing something special for me must have shown on my face because James and Al both sent me knowing smirks. James even went as far to look at Scorpius and wiggle his eyebrows.

I was all resigned not to talk to anyone else for the rest of the night, when I suddenly saw a hand lay on Scorpius’s for arm. I looked over and nearly groaned when I saw that hand belonged to Dominque Weasley, my wonderful, beautiful cousin, who, because she was part Veela, was always able to flirt with guys and have them flirt enthusiastically back.

“Hello, Scorpius,” Dom said, her voice singsong as ever. “I must say you have grown into a handsome man.”

“Uh, thank you,” Scorpius said, awkwardly looking between her face and her hand, clearly confused as to what was happening.

I was suddenly having flashbacks of when we were in fourth year when Scorpius had a crush on Dom and how awful that had made me feel. Dom was by far, the most beautiful of the Weasley family and as if that wasn’t enough, she had to be intelligent and kind as well. She had to be the whole package. She was back in fourth year and she was now, ten years later.

“Why didn’t I ever notice you at Hogwarts?” Dom said. She had only been a year older than us, so she was often around.

“I don’t know,” Scorpius said. I frowned slightly at his voice, simply because I knew what Scorpius flirting sounded like and that was not it. He sounded genuinely confused as to what was happening instead of the thrilled I expected from his childhood crush paying attention to him.

Merlin knows the thrill I would have had if my childhood crush paid attention to me. Mainly because I was still in love with him.

My head immediately snapped up at that thought and before I could stop myself, I groaned.

Loudly.

Causing almost everyone at the table to look at me.

Scorpius immediately turned to me, moving his arm out from Dom’s hand, and put his other arm around my chair.

“Red? Are you okay?” he said, in a tone that shocked me with the amount of concern it held. “Did you have peanuts?”

I looked at him, in shock at what he remembered.

He remembered his special nickname for me. And my deathly allergy to peanuts.

“Peanuts?” I asked, the amusement obvious in my voice.

Scorpius scowled, clearly confused. “Yes, peanuts. You’re still highly allergic right?”

I nodded my head, trying to shake the butterflies out of it as well. “I didn’t have any peanuts.”

“Okay,” Scorpius said. “Are you okay then?”

I looked into his eyes and, even though no, I wasn’t okay, I realized I was still in love with the idiot sitting next to me, I found myself nodding.

Scorpius, confusion still obvious on his face, removed his arm from the back of my chair. “Okay.”

He went back to pick up his fork and eat, when Dom asked him another question.

“Scorpius are you seeing anyone?”

The table, which had begun to slightly return to normal after my groaning episode, immediately, stopped talking and everyone turned to look at Scorpius and Dom, since Dom was currently stroking her hand on his shoulder. When Nana saw this, she immediately shook her head, almost as if she was disappointed that Dom was very clearly putting the moves on Scorpius. Albus and James were looking at Dom like she had two heads, clearly not expecting Dom to admit her attraction to Scorpius.

I however, was looking down at my plate, hoping beyond hope for…for whatever answer would mean that Scorpius didn’t go out with my perfect, beautiful, whole package cousin.

Lily, who had always been good at reading me, placed a hand on my leg, clearly trying to show me support since I was obviously not hiding my  newly rediscovered feelings for Scorpius very well.

Scorpius looked around, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention that was now on him because of this question.

“Um,” Scorpius said, pulling the neck of his sweater slightly. Scorpius had never been one for being center of attention. Yet another reason why we got along so well at Hogwarts. “Uh…no…I’m not…currently…seeing anyone.”

And then, despite the fact that I wasn’t looking at him, I suddenly felt his eyes fall on me, before quickly looking away.

Dominique smiled. “Good.”

Dad, then, decided to tell Ginny that the Cannons were going to win against the Harpies, which then got everyone trying to keep Ginny from murdering my father for slandering her former team like that.

I looked up at Al and James and saw them looking at me, guilt very apparent on their faces as they looked between me and Dominique. Beside me, Scorpius spoke to Dominique, but I tuned them out, not wanting to hear about their plans for a date.

Lily turned next to me and, in my completely and utter idiocy, my hand immediately flew up, about to grab her arm and tell her that I needed to talk to her after dinner, without noticing that she was holding gravy.

I hit Lily’s arm, causing her to drop the gravy, which then spilt all over me and my dress.

“Oh, Rosie, I’m so sorry!” Lily said. She grabbed the gravy bowl, which didn’t break thanks to Dom’s quick magic, and  put it on the table.

“Rose, let me clean you up,” Dom said, getting out of her seat and standing behind Scorpius’s, her wand out.

“No thank you,” I said, not wanting Dom to show how perfect she was even more. “I’ll just go to the bathroom and clean it. The Muggle way. Just like Grandpa says, we should always try to do things the Muggle way sometimes rights?”

Dom frowned at me. “Are you okay Rosie?”

“Yeah,” I said, putting my napkin on the table and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“Red,” I heard Scorpius say softly behind me, but I didn’t turn to look at him, knowing that my eyes were filling with tears the more attention that was brought to me in my humiliation.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, hoping that my voice sounded casual and not like the strangled cat I thought it sounded like.

I walked to the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind me. I immediately took my shoes off, no longer having the confidence to wear heels that I had put on before I got here.

I grabbed a wash cloth, and got it wet, and randomly started dabbing it on my dress, too lost in thought to really care about cleaning it.

Of course, less than five minutes after I realized that I had not gotten over my feelings for Scorpius and was in fact still in love with him, my perfect cousin asked him out. Of course she did. And I knew, I knew that Scorpius would say yes. He had claimed that he had gotten over her halfway through fourth year because he liked someone else, but he never told me who, so he probably just said that because he could tell how awkward it was for me to have him fancy one of my cousins.

One of my perfect, beautiful, blonde, cousins.

Maybe that was why he dated me in sixth year. He thought that he would be able to get closer to Dom or maybe get over Dom by dating me, her awkward cousin. And he probably broke up with me because Dom was in her seventh year and he thought it was his last chance to date her.

Why did Mum have to invite him this year? And why was everyone pushing us together? Yes, I realized that I hadn’t gotten over him, but I had also had feelings for him since I was 11. Scorpius, if he had feelings for me at all, only had them when we were dating, but even then, he stopped.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I recalled him breaking up with me. He told me that he didn’t feel the same way I did and that it wasn’t fair to me for us to be together. I remember being so upset when he told me, but trying to remain calm, not showing him how much he hurt me, since he seemed fine. He said that he missed us being friends and he felt like dating had added an unnecessary pressure when he liked us as friends more. I agreed with him, but the day after we broke up, I dyed my hair brown and started avoiding him, since every time I looked at him all I felt was pain.

A knock at the door made me snap my eyes open.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” I said, finally just pulling my wand out and saying the spell to clean my dress.

I turned on the faucet, about to rinse my face to hide the fact that I was crying, but stopped when I heard Scorpius say, “Rose?” from the other side of the door.

I immediately stood up straight, staring at the door.

Scorpius knocked again. “Rose? Can I come in?”

I walked closer to the door.

“Scorpius this is a bathroom,” I said, confused. “One person is normally only allowed in to do their business at a time.”

“I know, I don’t want to do my business” Scorpius said. I could  hear the smile in his voice. “I want to talk to you.”

I gapped, unsure of what to say, before looking around. “In the bathroom?!”

Scorpius laughed. “I mean, sure, if that’s where you’ll let me talk to you.”

Nervous, I walked towards the door, unlocking it and opening it.

Scorpius immediately ran inside, shutting and locking the door, almost as if he was being attacked.

“Are you okay, Malfoy?” I asked, frowning at his weird behavior.

“Dom was coming,” Scorpius said quietly. “Didn’t really want her to see me.”

I nodded, my heart dropping my chest, realizing that he didn’t want Dom to see him in the bathroom with me.

Scorpius turned around and faced me and immediately frowned.

“You’re shorter,” he said, confused.

I pointed at my shoes on the ground. “Didn’t feel like wearing heels anymore.”

Scorpius seemed to accept that answer, nodding and looking around the bathroom.

“So…” I said. He looked back at me and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was nervous. “What are you doing in here?”

“Right!” Scorpius said. “Right. I, um, I wanted to talk to you.”

Silence filled the bathroom.

“Okay…” I said. “So talk.”

“Rose, I…” Scorpius wandered off. “Rose, I really don’t want to go on a date with Dominique.”

“Really?” I said, annoyed at the joy that I heard in my voice.

Fortunately, Scorpius didn’t seem to notice the happiness I had expressed, since he was currently looking at the ground, avoiding my eye contact, thinking very hard about what he had to say.

“No, I really don’t,” Scorpius said. “You see, I haven’t wanted to go on a date with anyone in a while…since I started working at your mum’s office really. I just was working there and I realized some things-“

“Oh Merlin,” I said, bringing my head to my hands. “Malfoy, you can’t be in love with my mother.”

Scorpius immediately looked up at me, clearly confused. “Wait what-“

“She is happily married to my father,” I said. “And no offense you aren’t really her type. Listen, it’s better that you keep this to yourself because quite honestly my father will probably kill you, Hugo too. I get why you have feelings for her, she’s absolutely amazing, I mean she makes Dom look like yesterday’s garbage-“

“Rose,” Scorpius interrupted. “I’m not in love with your mother.”

“Oh thank God,” I said, relief obvious in my voice. “You had me worried when you were talking about working in her office.”

“No, definitely do not want to date your mother,” Scorpius said. “I don’t want to date your mother or Dominique or anyone else in your family.”

My heart deflated a little at his words, figuring that I was probably in the “anyone else” category.

“Anyway,” Scorpius said, going back to his clearly rehearsed speech. “Since I’ve started working for your mother, I realized some things. Such as, what I want in a partner and how I shouldn’t let fear keep me away from the person that I want to be with.”

I nodded, unsure of what else to do.

“Um, because you see, most of my dating life, I have let fear keep me from going after what I want,” Scorpius said. “I have dated a lot of people my mother has set me up with simply because I thought it would make her happy and if they were good enough for my mother, they were probably good enough for me. And they were all nice girls, some of them beautiful and women that I could see growing old with.”

I bit my lip, not wanting to hear Scorpius’s speech anymore.

I really, really did not want to hear about Scorpius wanting to be with any other woman for the rest of his life.

“But, I was always able to find something wrong with them,” Scorpius said. “No matter how compatible we were, no matter how much I liked or even loved them, I could not bring myself to admit that they were the one. So, for the past two years, I have kind of given up on dating.”

“So tell Dom that,” I said, looking down at my toes. “Just tell her you live a celibate life and she’ll be long gone trust me.”

“While I could do that, it wouldn’t be true,” Scorpius said. “And you have to remember how much I value honesty.”

“A little too much if I remember,” I said quietly.

Scorpius nodded. “Anyway, the past two years, I have been trying to figure out why I haven’t been able to meet someone I have liked well enough to date for longer than three months. And it wasn’t until I started working at your mum’s office that I realized why.”

I frowned and looked up at him. I had been following along with his story and it all made sense, but the part where my mum had anything to do with it was still confusing to me.

“You see, when I started working at your mum’s office, it all started to make sense,” Scorpius said. “I started to figure out why I hadn’t been able to be in a serious relationship. I had begun to spend so much time in that office that I was able to think about what I wanted in life and what I wanted in a partner. I wanted someone who would study with me, beat me at Wizards Chest, discuss random magical trivia with me and overall just be my best mate. I had begun to think of that that person didn’t exist until one day…until one day she came walking in to visit her mum at work.”

I immediately snapped my eyes up to his and saw him looking at me with an intense stare.

“And suddenly, it all came back to me. And as soon as you walked in, I realized I didn’t want that because it was what I thought would make a good partner; I wanted that because I wanted you.”

I was speechless, my brain absolutely blank. Scorpius stared at me, clearly expecting me to say something and, unfortunately, my mouth said what my heart was screaming.

“But you broke up with me!” I said, hurt clear in my voice.

Scorpius looked at the ground in shame.

“Yes I did,” he said quietly. He glanced back up at me, holding my gaze. “But that wasn’t because of you.”

“Right, okay,” I said. “That makes sense.”

“Rose, I was sixteen,” Scorpius said, his voice still calm although I could tell the emotion that hid behind his eyes. “I was sixteen when we started dating and within those two months I knew that all I wanted was to be with you for the rest of my life. I broke up with you because that thought terrified me, not because I didn’t-“ He bit his lip, holding back what he was saying.

I moved forward slightly, feeling pulled to him.

“You didn’t what?” I whispered, knowing what I was hoping for him to say but unsure if that was what he was going to say. I stared up into his blue eyes, begging for him to tell me.

“I didn’t break up with you because I didn’t love you,” he whispered quietly. “Red, I was sixteen, you were my first girlfriend, and within the span of two months I had fallen in love with you and started thinking that I knew I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. I was terrified. I thought breaking up and going back to being friends would be the best way. But then, you started avoiding me. And you dyed your hair.”

I gulped, suddenly feeling guilty for my response to our break up.

“And you barely let me say more than 10 words to you since that day until now,” Scorpius said. He looked around and frowned. “In the bathroom of your grandparents’ house. On Christmas. With your whole family here.” He sighed. “I had hoped to tell you this is a more romantic way.”

“Scorpius,” I said and he looked down at me. “I still don’t understand what all that has to do with not wanting to date Dom now. I understand that you loved me and thought you wanted to be with me forever, but that was eight years ago. What does that have to do with now?”

“Are you serious, Red?” Scorpius asked and, in an uncharacteristic move, smirked at me. “I didn’t just feel that way eight years ago. I don’t want to date Dom or anyone else because you’re the only person I want to date. You’re the person that I’m still in love with and want to spend-“

I cut him off, jumping up and throwing my arms around him to kiss him, unable to hold back any more. Scorpius kissed me back, placing his arms at my waist.

After a few moments our kiss broke and Scorpius looked at me, slightly  confused.

“You feel the same way right?”

“Yes, Scorpius,” I said. “I’ve been in love with you since I was 11. And, as I so wonderfully figured out at dinner, I’m still very much in love with you.”

“Was that what that groan was about?”

“Yes,”  I said, turning pink.

“Oh,” Scorpius said, a smile coming to his face.

He leaned down and kissed me before we were interrupted by pounding on the door.

“Scorp! Rose! Are you guy doing it?” Al’s voice came shouting through.

“I bet Rose killed him!” James said.

“You both are idiots,” Lily said. “If anything they are awkwardly standing there staring at each other because they are the two most awkward people on earth.”

I frowned and walked over and opened the door, causing all three of them to fall, since they were leaning on the door.

“Were all three of you dropped on your head as children?” I asked.

“Yes,” Harry said as he walked by, glancing only for a moment at his three adult children laying on the ground.

“Can all of you please move so that we can get back to dinner?” Scorpius asked, his tone much politer than my own.

“Not until you tell us what happened in here!” Al cried out.

I sighed, choosing instead to step over them, grabbing Scorpius’s hand and pulling him along with me.

“Hey, you guys could not walk on us you know!” Lily said.

“I swear, I don’t share blood with them,” I said as we made our way to the dining room.

“Merlin what is all the commotion-“ Mum rounded the corner, clearly being summoned by the loudness of her niece and nephews. She stopped when she saw me and Scorpius, her eyes immediately going down to out intertwined hands.

“Yes!” She said, she immediately ran back to the dining room. “Molly! It worked!”

“It did?” I heard Nana say, along with multiple chairs moving. Nana came around the corner, followed closely by Grandpa and Dad. Upon seeing me and Scorpius, Nana immediately put her hand to her heart. “Oh, thank Merlin!”

Nana’s eyes started tearing up and Grandpa pulled a handkerchief out before looking at me.

“Told you Rosie,” he said. “I told you. Sometimes fondness for a person never goes away.”

I smiled at him, sneaking a peek at Scorpius, who was bright red.

“Oh, well let’s finish Christmas dinner,” Nana said, before coming over and giving me and Scorpius a hug. “Never thought there would be this much excitement before we opened presents!”

Everyone began walking back to the room, James, Lily and Al included, but I held Scorpius back.

“Are you sure you still want to be with me forever?” I asked. “That includes being with this crazy bunch forever.”

“Are you kidding me?” Scorpius asked a smile on his face. “They all planned to get us together today by simply inviting me here. I barely had to do anything. I’ll never have a good of wingteam as that ever in my life. Of course I want to stay with them forever.”

I gave him a small glare, which caused him to laugh and kiss my forehead.

“You’re the main reason I want to be here forever though,” Scorpius said softly.

My heart swelled at his words.

“I love you,” I said softly.

“I love you too, Red,” Scorpius said, before pulling me back into the dining room, where we were met with applause.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I went to work on the next chapter of Perfect, but instead this came out! I'm very happy with how it turned out. Very interested to explore these characterizations of Scorpius and Rose a little more, where Rose is slightly more of a loose cannon than I typically write her and Scorpius is more quiet and put together. Maybe after Perfect is done I will revisit this!
> 
> I was hoping to maybe write a story about Rose and Scorp slightly based on "Last Christmas" and then, without me planning anything, this came out! Clearly, I have been watching one too many cheesy Christmas Rom Com, since this was so easy to write.
> 
> So excited to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Happy holidays to everyone!


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